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The Daily Vet is a blog featuring veterinarians from all walks of life. Every week they will tackle entertaining, interesting, and sometimes difficult topics in the world of animal medicine – all in the hopes that their unique insights and personal experiences will help you to understand your pets.

Storm Phobias in Dogs: Part 1

A few weeks back, I listened to an interesting segment on Science Friday about the treatment of arachnophobia (fear of spiders) in people. Researchers reported that exposure therapy sessions lasting only two hours resulted in patients more or less completely overcoming their arachnophobia, and these same people were phobia-free six months later with no additional treatment. Cool.

This got me to thinking about one of the more common behavioral problems veterinarians and pet owners have to deal with: storm phobias in dogs. I’ve treated many pets for the condition and have had one myself. As my dog Owen got older, his storm-related anxiety worsened (a common occurrence) — until his hearing began to fail. Watching him sleep through some impressive flash-booms during his last summer made me view his deafness as at least a partial blessing.

Unfortunately, I don’t think veterinary behaviorists will ever be able to come up with a two hour therapy protocol that will cure storm phobias in dogs. The arachnophobia researchers made the point that their patients responded so well to treatment because they quickly learned that a spider’s movements are predictable and controllable; the same cannot be said of a thunderstorm. I’d also argue that while one sense is primarily involved in arachnophobia — sight — storm phobic dogs often react to multiple cues associated with an approaching storm: the sound of thunder, the flash of lightening, and changes in atmospheric pressure or ambient electrical charges.

So while dealing with storm phobia in dogs may be more difficult than arachnophobia in people, this radio segment did remind me of the often overlooked role that desensitization and counter-conditioning can play in dealing with the problem. When faced with a storm phobic dog, veterinarians, myself included, rely primarily on prescribing anti-anxiety medications and sometimes recommending pheromone preparations and garments designed to comfort or disrupt the ability to sense changes associated with thunderstorms. These drugs and products certainly have a role in treatment, but to use them in the absence of a more comprehensive behavioral modification plan increases the risk of therapeutic failure.

Even in combination, behavioral modification and drug therapy for storm phobias is rarely 100 percent effective. This isn’t too surprising, because being extra vigilant and a little on edge during a severe storm has the potential to save one’s life. Psychologists say that many human phobias are an exaggerated form of a normal fear of something that has the potential to do us harm (e.g., heights, venomous snakes and spiders, etc.). It seems to me that storm phobias in dogs are similar in this regard.

I don’t mean to discourage owners from attempting to treat storm phobias; therapy can go a long way towards reducing the severity and frequency of a dog’s symptoms. A study published in 2003 in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association found that "panting, pacing, trembling, remaining near the caregiver, hiding, excessive salivation, destructiveness, excessive vocalization, self-trauma, and inappropriate elimination all decreased significantly during treatment" and "30 of the 32 dogs that completed the study had a degree of improvement, as measured by caregivers’ global assessment."

Decreasing the intensity of a dog’s terror to any extent can make a big difference in the quality of life for everyone involved.

Comments 14

It's hard to imagine how terrifying it must be for critters with storm phobia.

A friend had a dog that was beyond terrified. During a storm, she had to turn the stereo up to attempt to cover the scary noises as well as cuddle the dog (many times all night long) until it was over.

I look forward to your next article. Have a dog with this phobia. Usually have to resort to a prescription med. dont like to give but he is inconsolableneven when being held. I was wondering if any has tried the thunder shirt and if they work.

I highly recommend the thundershirt - based on Temple Grandin's research - as a worthy purchase - for lots of anxiety issues. Here's a link:
http://www.baxterboo.com/dog/supplies.cfm/thundershirt-gray

I have used this shirt, along with cognitive dissonance exercise with great success. Cognitive dissonance exercise is simply grabbing some treats and issuing all kinds of commands (sit, stay, turn, down, shake, heal -- only limited by your imagination) at the first clap of thunder. Being busy being trained distracts from focusing on thunder anxiety. Make sure you have a higher value treat than normal. If its not working, find even higher value - persevere. Addele's chicken and apple sausage worked for my picky dog(Costco). Soon, thunder = have a good time training. This also assumes you have a positive training culture going... see clickertraining.com

Finally, I find desensitization to be a great tool. Use your computer to find sounds of thunder (I use Spotify, and typing in thunder/rain has many results) to play at all random times of the day. Also - grab the clicker and treats and train away to it as well.

This all worked with a 2 yr old I have in my pack. I got on it right away though... did not let it grow into serious neurosis! Hope this is of help to someone.

Our Great Py. goes off the deep in, in Thunder Storms..Her Medication does not work. At 125 pds. she is more than a handful. Thank-you Harappa, gonna give the Thundershirt a try, just hope they make one for her size. She is a Sweet-Heart, we love her, but will not hold her, she is bigger me....lol

Thank you for bringing this important topic to the forefront. I would like to offer a bit more detailed information.

While medications are very important in treating this type of disorder because the stimulus (the storms) are unpredictable primarily, if only medications are prescribed with no behavior modification, the case will generally continue to progress throughout the pet's lifetime.

I do not think that treating Storm Phobia is all doom and gloom. With work and proper environmental management, which usually doesn't include ds and cc, patients get better and I am deep in the south where the storms are horrendous.

So, I would say that with proper treatment these patients get better generally. The first year is the worst because we are trying to find what works and what doesn't. The patients generally are stable before the next storm season. Their parents have a plan which works and they know how to keep their dog calm during storms.

Nothing is 100% including treatment of all kinds of medical disorders such as hip dysplasia, diabetes and hypothyroidism. I would say that thunderstorm phobia is rewarding to treat because the dogs generally get better if the treatment plan is followed. So, a sunnier picture, I hope.

Thank you again for remembering that behavioral disorders are important too!

I had a foster dog with such severe storm phobia that he almost succeeded in jettisoning himself through a plate glass door. To help him reduce his anxiety I started by randomly setting off a camera flash throughout the day. Every time I did this I called him to me and gave him a high value treat. When we got to the point at which he was happily coming for treats when the flash went off I added a thunderstorm soundtrack to the flash. At first I played it softly, increasing the volume when he would happily come to me with the soundtrack playing and the flash going off.

During thunderstorms I ran a dryer sheet over him to reduce static and gave him a dropper full of rescue remedy and one Dramamine. This combined with consistent desensitization resulted in a dog that was not nearly as anxious during storms, saving us all a lot of stress. When a storm popped up Hank parked himself under a table and managed to fall asleep. Of course we had some set backs here and there but that's part and parcel of behavior modification.

My 9 year old Choc. Lab, Bruno, has been through 9 New England summers, numerous fireworks celebrations and a life filled with 4 human sisters who played music (okay, along with Dad too!) at max volume for years. Unfortunately, in the last 18 months he lost his GSD brother of 8 years to Degenerative Myelopathy and been diagnosed with diabetes which resulted in Bruno losing his sight. When the first severe thunder storm hit this season, Bruno exhibited behavior that can only be described as complete panic. He jumped into the bath tub, vocalizing and shaking uncontrollably. I know I reacted incorrectly by trying to comfort him, but I had never seen this behavior before. After consulting with our vet, we are trying a vest along with music and 30mg of Valium. It works, but timing is the key component. She also suggested a constant low dose of the canine version of thorazine to get a head start before administering the diazepam. I really would like to hear your thoughts on this treatment.

I don't think it's a mistake to comfort our dogs when they panic or are fearful of something like a storm. Studies have shown that comforting them will not encourage them to perform the behavior more often because fear is not an emotion that an animal will choose to have.

I'd rather comfort my dogs and have them lie next to me rather than leave them panting, pacing, digging up the carpet or throwing themselves out of windows.

I'll look for the studies. I read them years ago and may have initially found references to them in Whole Dog Journal. Personally I have never had a dog's anxiety and fearfulness increase by comforting them. I have had the anxiety and fearfulness increase when I've ignored the behavior.

Talk about great timing! This is an article by Patricia B McConnell about reducing fear in storm phobic dogs. This article references the studies I was thinking of from the early/mid 2000s.

http://thebark.com/content/reducing-fear-your-dog

To me it just doesn't make sense that ignoring the fear would reduce it. From my own experience with anxiety disorder this is the worst thing we can do. If I'm ignored I will make the anxiety worse. I'll focus on all the horrible things that will happen until I'm completely non functional or destructive. Just like a dog. I need someone to hold my hand and talk me down. Just like a dog.

I'm not sure what the doggie version of Thorazine is. I tend to use either fluoxetine or clomipramine for maintenance therapy in storm phobic dogs with the addition of either diazepam or alprazolam in the face of an impending storm.

My canine companion of 15 years was storm phobic and the 'poster child' for separation anxiety. She was so anxious she broke her two lower canines off at the gum line in her crate (and yes, she had root canal for them both). We tried 'no crate' and she tore out a window and the fence in the yard to go look for me. This was a 20 lb terrier/beagle mix....anxiety is a serious issue.
Our favorite and best vet whom we dearly miss suggested Alprazolam and it was a God-send. We had been thru valium, clomicalm and other human grade anti anxiety drugs which sedated her but did not help the anxiety. The alpraz did the trick...
Later in her life, Casey had to wear a holter monitor for a heart monitoring. The monitor was encased in a wonderful neoprene doggie vest to keep the wires and wrapping in place. It was with this vest that we saw how calm she was while being compressed and hugged by it. The very next day we bought her the newly marketed Thundershirt.
Can't say enough good about that design and idea. It sure helped our girl with all her issues. If you have a good and trusted pet store, they should offer to take the thundershirt back if you feel it doesn't work for you dog.